It’s not too early to think about helping out for the holidays.
Concord Prison Outreach (CPO), a local non-profit, offers high-quality, transformative programs that focus on education, personal growth, and increased opportunity for incarcerated people and their families. CPO’s work began over 50 years ago, when a group of Concord women made curtains for the prison infirmary and initiated holiday programming at MCI-Concord. Today, CPO offers educational, vocational, socio-emotional, and parenting programs in jail and prison locations throughout Massachusetts.
Ensuring that incarcerated people feel remembered during the holidays has been a mainstay objective for CPO. For close to 40 years, CPO has assembled Holiday Gift Bags for people in the two Concord prisons with enormous support from CPO volunteers.
For the 2023 holiday season, the Massachusetts Department of Correction is working with CPO to create bags for incarcerated people in MCI-Concord, Northeastern Correctional Center, North Central Correctional Institute, and MCI-Framingham. This effort is possible due to the approximately 150 volunteers who will assemble Holiday Gift bags and the supporters who donate their financial gifts to CPO.
For many of the incarcerated individuals, this is the only holiday gift they receive. Each gift contains toiletries, writing materials, and a greeting card. One man wrote, “What you do for everyone is a great thing, and is helpful and caring for all who are incarcerated here. You may not be able to see it, but it really boosts the spirits for all who are here. So please keep doing what you do and know that your actions are appreciated.”
Being separated from loved ones is made even more difficult by the arrival of the holidays. Join us in this opportunity to show kindness to incarcerated people during this holiday season.
To donate support for the Holiday Gift Bags and CPO, please visit www.concordprisonoutreach.org
